The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-08-17

gnswing of centuries, are all engaged in
the work of wreck and ruin. 1t seems to
be the natural order OF things and the de-
vastating work will go on in spite of pro-
test or prayer. But it was never designed
that court of justice should be seen in
ruins, nor could ouch a repulsive sight be
presented If those to whom the administra.
ton OF justice Is committed, could appreci-
the majesty of Shakespeare's advics:
This, above all, to thine own self be true,
And it will follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."
1t is only when a judge, from considera-
tons which warp, dwarf and deform ig-
noble minds, betrays his trust, and lends,
not only his faculties, but his position and
prerogatives, to bring justice iAto con-
tempt, that courts are ruined-wrecked. 1t
is then that men turn away from them,
not only with disgust but with horror. It
is then that courts cease to be the guard
ians Of the rights OF the people. 1t is then
that innocence is cloven down and vice
exalted. 1t Is then that the bularks of So
ciety give way, and virtue is overwhelmed
with vice and corruption in their msnse-
fold forms. A trial in a court, where the
Judge has earned the scorn of thousands
of his fellow citizens, is something worse
than farce. 1t partakes of the nature of
crime. 1t might be characterized es
legal legerdsmain, judicial chicanery; any
thing indicative of condition of things at
war with even handed justice. In such q
trial, perjury may go unrebuked, worse
still, may be dignifed to an extent that
imperils justice. Such trial could occur
only in court in ruins, dilapidated, a
place where virtue is in danger and where
truth and integrity find no refuge.
A court in ruins, a bench befouled,
where law is tortured, innocence threat
ened, truth bludgeoned, perjury exalted,
and equity stabbed, is the most haggard
spectacle that men are required to contem-
plate-and the higher the court the more
revolving the exhibition of mans de-
pravity.
1t matters not with what pomp and par
ade trials are conducted in such ruined
court-indeed, the more display and osten-
tation, the more contemplate become the
proceediDgs-for beneath the tinsel, the
gauzy covering, can be seen the ebb and
flow of the currents which have wrought
the ruin.
Those who have control Of ruined courts
owe 1t to the people whose rights are in
| jeopardy to repair the wreck, and the
speedy way to do the work is to remove
the corrupt Judge-compel him to resign
or impeach him-anything to get him out
of the way and restore the confidence oil
| the people in courts where life, liberty aud
property are in peril every time trial
| occurs
True, an honest, inhexible jury may dc.
feat the schemes OF a judge, and God is to
be praised that honest men can yet be
found who have the courage of conviction,
but even such safeguard is not sufficient
always to protect the psople, if the Judge
is known to be depraved. Courts are, sad
to say, losing the confidence of the people,
and society is constantly laboring under
forbodings of evil resulting from such g
state of affairs. The time has come fol
serious reflection and robust talk. The de
mand is that courts in ruins shall be re
constructed, and that judges who faunt
their befouled robes before the people shall
be retired.